The Other Story
by ixheartxstarbuckss
Summary: What if Lily and James didn't die that Halloween night? Would Harry's life be different? You bet. But you have to read to find out more
1. Chapter 1

October 31, 1981

"Lily, take Harry and go!" James Potter yelled, as the figure of Lord Voldemort closed in on him. Lily was about to protest, but with another "go!" from James she quickly headed upstairs.

"I don't have time to mess with you, Potter. All I need is your son." Voldemort practically hissed. Flames erupted in James' eyes as he aimed a curse at Voldemort, who sidestepped it and blasted James backwards. "You two," she said to the two Death Eater standing behind him, "Finish him off." And with that Voldemort ran past him.

James started to run after him to protect him family when he heard someone shout and pain erupted through his body, hitting every nerve. He doubled over and bit his lip to stop from shouting out. The pain stopped just as quickly as it came, just to be replaced with more as the Death Eaters continued to torture him.

Meanwhile, Lily had failed to barricade her and Harry. "Do you really think you're a match for me?" Voldemort seethed. "Just give up. Give me the boy. You can live. Just let me kill the boy."

"No! Not Harry! Kill me instead! I love him!" Lily screamed. Tears streaming down her face.

"So, you would die for your son?" To this, Lily nodded firmly, her eyes fixed on the man in front of her. Voldemort laughed mirthlessly. "Such _love_. Foolish girl, love cannot save your son. _Crucio!_"

Lily screamed. As the curse was repeated over and over again, she could feel herself start to lose consciousness. The last thing she saw was Voldemort point his wand at Harry's forehead, and a bright green light emit from his wand. Then there was screaming. _That doesn't sound like Harry._ Lily thought. But then everything went black.

The Death Eaters downstairs could feel their Dark Marks lessen and knew the worst had come. They quickly fled from the scene, leaving and unconscious James on the floor.

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin ran down the street towards Godric's Hollow. They had gotten a Patronus from Bathilda Bagshot saying that James and Lily were in trouble. They turn the corner to see the house in ruins. They ran in and saw James lying on the floor. "Peter." Sirius said darkly. He pointed his wand and with a bright blue flash a rat was on the floor. With another bright blue flash there stood Peter Pettigrew and before he could explain himself, Sirius shouted "Stupefy!" Sirius bound him with ropes and ran upstairs to find Lily and Harry while Remus notified Dumbledore.

Sirius found Lily unconscious and figured she had been tortured like James. He turned to see Harry crying, completely unharmed except for a lightening shaped scar on his forehead. He brought Harry downstairs and showed Remus the scar. "Peculiar," he muttered.

Dumbledore entered the Potter residence with a feeling of apprehension. When he saw Harry was okay and heard that Lily and James were alive, he felt somewhat relieved. But his apprehension was replaced by wonder when he realized Harry had just survived Lord Voldemort's attack, and the evil wizard was gone…well, for the time being anyway.

Soon, James and Lily were in St. Mungo's and were being looked at by the Healers. Dumbledore was in deep conversation with one of them. He came over to where Remus was playing with Harry and Sirius was nervously pacing and said "They're all right." Remus broke out into a huge grin while Sirius caused many people to stare by jumping up and down and screaming with joy.


	2. Chapter 2

10 years later…

Harry walked downstairs rubbing his eyes. He was still thinking about the dream he had last night. There was a flash of green light and screaming, but it wasn't the first time he had had this dream. He knew it was connected to the odd scar on his forehead because whenever he asked his parents about the dream or his scar they would pretend not to hear him and quickly change the subject. He eventually just stopped asking.

He sat down at the table and poured himself some cereal. He heard a chuckle next to him and looked up to see his little sister Kat barely holding on her laughter. It was then he realized the huge banner in the kitchen that read "Happy Birthday Harry!" Harry almost smacked himself. He had completely forgotten it was his birthday.

"Happy Birthday." Kat said with a smile. She was only two year younger than Harry and looked remarkably like Lily, only she had black hair, though not as unruly as Harry's or James'. But besides the hair, she had Lily's exact eyes, hair thickness, and didn't inherit her father's boniness but rather her mom's curves. For that she was glad.

"Thanks." Harry replied. He was glad he and Kat got along relatively well, minus the few pranks here and there. Just as Harry was about to take another bite of his cereal, when his mom and dad came in.

"Happy Birthday sweetie." Lily said, "We'll open presents after breakfast." Then, she noticed Harry's soggy cornflakes and said, "We'll get you a proper breakfast." And started making pancakes for him and Kat.

"Wow, Eleven…big year." James said, ruffling his son's hair. Harry was ecstatic about going to Hogwarts and was waiting for the owl to arrive.

Lily finished making pancakes and separated them onto two plates and served them. She smiled, but the smile didn't really reach her eyes. She looked at James at signaled him to step out of the kitchen. He did and Lily cast privacy charms on the door.

"James, I think we should tell Harry."

"But Lils, he doesn't need that burden yet, he's only eleven.

"What about when he goes to school and everyone knows his name, and knows who he is? What about that burden? We can't protect him forever James."

"Okay, but what about Kat?"

"We'll tell her too." And with that, James nodded and agreed to tell them after presents.

Harry loved all of his presents. He got a stuffed lion that roared every time you said Gryffindor, a broom servicing kit for his Comet two-sixty, some chocolate from Honeyduke's, (Harry had never been there, but had heard about it) some books for school-from Lily of course- and a promise to pick out any pet he wanted from Diagon Alley.

"We have something to tell you guys something." James said, "Harry, it's about your scar and those dreams you have sometimes. Kat should hear this too." Harry's attention was immediately caught. He was going to find out how he got that peculiar scar. As James started to tell the story, with Lily picking it up where James didn't know what happened, both of the children's eyes just got bigger and bigger. When the story was finished, James and Lily looked at Harry apprehensively.

Harry couldn't believe it. All this time and that was what really happened. Suddenly, everything made sense. The scar, the dreams, the fact that his parents wouldn't let him out in any crowded wizarding area. He wasn't mad, just confused and to be honest a little scared of his first year at Hogwarts.

"Wow." was all he could say right now. There was an awkward silence that was broken by two loud cracks announcing the arrival of Sirius and Remus. They both smiled and handed Harry their gifts.

"Happy Birthday." They both said, and when they realized the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife, they looked at James and Lily quizzically.

"We just told them what happened." Lily said. They understood right away.

"Are people going to think I'm weird at school?" Harry asked his parents, but it was Sirius who answered.

"Weird? No way! They'll think it's awesome!" And when Lily gave him a look he added, "But don't let it all go to your head. Just be yourself." And then grinned at Lily who smiled.

Harry was about to laugh when Kat suddenly said, "Look! And owl!" and sure enough heading right towards their house was a barn owl with a letter in its beak. Harry opened the letter and read through quickly before handing the booklist to his mother.

"Well," She said, "Looks like its time for a trip to Diagon Alley."

When the Potter family got to the Leaky Cauldron everything became silent. Then, all at once people came and swarmed around Harry, shaking his hand and introducing themselves. Lily and James tried their best to get Harry through the crowd until they reached a very large man with a tangle of a black beard.

"Hello Hagrid. Nice to see you again." James said.

"Hello James, Lily. An' this mus' be young Harry and Kat." Hagrid said. "Here fer yer firs' trip to Diagon Alley?"

"Yes we are" Lily said, "How about you?"

"Hogwarts business. Yer know." Both Lily and James nodded understandingly. While they made their way through the crowded pub, they met a stuttering Professor Quirrel who taught Defense Against The Dark Arts at Hogwarts.

Harry was amazed by Diagon Alley. He got all the books he needed for school and then some, a cauldron, robes, and a snowy white owl before he made his way to Ollivader's. Harry tried most of the wands in the store before Ollivander came across a wand that was "Curious." Apparently, the phoenix feather in that wand came from the same phoenix who supplied the feather for the wand that gave him his scar.

Harry left Ollivander's with a sense of pride at his new wand, but also a feeling of curiosity about the other wand.

"Well, I expect it's about time we head back." Lily said when she saw both Harry and James try to sneak off to Quality Quidditch Supplies again to look at the new Nimbus Two Thousand. They flooed back home and Harry immediately went up to his room to look through all of his new school books to get an idea of what he was going to do on this new adventure that was to start on September 1st.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

Finally September 1st came. Harry had been waiting for this day all summer. He had poured over his textbooks, fascinated by all of the things he would be able to do. He had named his owl Hedwig after a name he found in his History of Magic textbook.

They drove to King's Cross and James told Harry how to get through the barrier onto the platform. Harry had to admit, he though he would crash. But when he opened his eyes, it was to see a bright red steam engine in front of him. His dad picked up his trunk and put it on the train, along with Hedwig.

Harry found and empty compartment and made himself comfortable. He leaned out the window to wave to his parents and little sister and saw the Kat was running down beside the train and waving until they turned the corner.

A little while into the ride, a boy with red hair and dirt on his nose came in the compartment and sais timidly "Do you mind? Everywhere else is full" Of course, Harry didn't mind and said so and the boy sat down. He introduced himself as Ron Weasley and was amazed when he realized who Harry was. They talked for awhile about amny things like Quidditch and the sort.

Around midday, a plump old witch came by with a cart full of sweets. Ron said he alreasy had somethings, but Harry gave up all the galleons his dad gave him earlier for the candy on the cart. The rest of the ride was filled with dares to eat the new flavor of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, and comparing what chocolate frog card they got. A little while later a bushy haired girl came along and asked about a toad. When they replied no she said, "Oh, by the way, I'm Hermione Granger. And you?"

"Ron Weasley.'

"Harry Potter"

"You're Harry Potter? I've read about you. I'm Muggle born, so I didn't know anything until I got my letter. I'm really worried about the sorting though. I want to be Gryffindor, or maybe Ravewnclaw, I don't know though. I've read up on all my books in case its some sort of test or something. Well, I expect you should get your robes on. We're almost there. Nice meeting you, bye." And with that, Hermione left.

"Wow. She's a talker." Ron said.

"Oh yeah."

When they got to Hogwarts, Harry heard a familiar voice saying "Firs' Years! Firs' Years over here!" Harry ran over to Hagrid and found out they would be crossing the Black Lake to get to Hogwarts. Harry was in a boat with Ron and a boy named Neville who had lost his toad.

When they arrived a stern looking witch who Harry knew by his father's description to be Professor McGonagall told them what would happen. Harry was only half listening to what she was saying. He knew what to do, his mother had told him. He was worried about the houses. What if he wasn't in Gryffindor? He couldn't bear to think of what his dad would say.

"Harry Potter" His name was being called. He was so nervous he didn't realize that the entire Great Hall broke out in whispers. The Sorting Hat was placed on his head and immediately said " Ah! How interesting. Plenty of courage…not a bad mind…cunning…where to put you."

"Please not Slytherin. Not Slytherin." Harry muttered

"Not Slytherin? You would be great there…lots of power…no? ok then… better be GRYFFINDOR!" Harry was relieved. The entire Gryffindor table erupted in cheers to have the famous Harry Potter in their house. Neville, Ron and Hermione Granger were also in Gryffindor.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Hogwarts is been great. I'm in Gryffindor, as is my new best friend Ron Weasley. We had potions class and I don't think the teacher, Professer Snape, likes me very much. And guess what happened on Halloween? A troll got in and tried to attack this girl Hermione Granger but Ron and I stopped it and Ron knocked it out with its own club. Isn't that cool? And guess what?. We had flying lessons and this boy Draco Malfoy took Neville Longbottom's remeberall. I followed him up in the air and he threw it. I dove after it and caught it. Professor McGonagall came out and told me to come with her. I thought I was in trouble but she got the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain and told him she found a Seeker! Dumbledore said he would bend the first-years-aren't-allowed-to-have-brooms rule for me, so can you send my broom? Thanks!

Love,

Harry

"What! He battled a troll?" Lily couldn't believe that her son would be so stupid to battle a mountain troll. Even if he did manage to knock it out!

"But look! He made the Quidditch team! A seeker, just like me!" James said proudly. "I think we should get him the Nimbus Two Thousand."

"Okay, we'll give his old Comet to Kat I guess…but a troll!"

"That;s not as bad as Snivellus."

"James!"

"Sorry Lils, I mean _Snape_" Lily just rolled her eyes at her husband and continued to make dinner.

Ever since the troll event, Hermione had become a friend of Harry and Ron's. They had many adventures since then, one including finding a three headed dog on top of a trap door. They later found out this dog was Hagrid's, it's name was Fluffy and it had something to do with Nicholas Flamel.

One night Harry took the Invisiblity Cloak his Dad gave him when he was nine and went into the Restricted section of the library. He ran into Filch along the way though. He ducked into a room with a fabulous mirror in it. He looked at the engravings on the top at realized that if you read it backwards it read_ I show not your face but your heart's desire_. Harry thought that was interesting. He looked into the mirror and saw…

A/N I think I'll leave it there…leave you to ponder what Harry sees in the mirror if he has his parents…


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter**

Harry looked in the mirror saw himself looking back…only there was something different about him…he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then he realized it. He had no scar on his forehead. That was his hearts deepest desire…to be normal… not the boy who lived but just someone who grew up a regular life with regular friends and a regular family.

It was too weird. He quickly pulled the Invisibility cloak on and rushed down the corridor towards Gryffindor Tower. He quickly shook Ron awake to show him the mirror. When they got down there Ron looked into the mirror and immediately got excited. "Look! I'm Head Boy…and Quidditch Captain. Blimey, I've won the House Cup. That's more than any of my brothers combined." Harry chuckled at this. He guesses that Ron's deepest desire was to be better than his brothers. It was then that they realized that Filch was still out and about and decided to head back to the tower.

Lily sat down at the kitchen table sipping her coffee and reading the _Prophet. _It was then that James came in and said, "Harry's in the hospital wing. Something about the Stone."

Lily's eyes got wide. She couldn't believe her son would've been so stupid as to go after it. "Kat!" She yelled, "Get your cloak we're going to Hogwarts!" Kat came bolting downstairs. She had never been to Hogwarts and couldn't have been more excited. But the grin quickly slipped off her face as she saw her parents' somber expressions.

Harry was just about to ask Dumbledore why Voldemort came after him when his parents and sister burst through the door.

"What were you thinking? You could've gotten seriously hurt!"

"But Mom, I didn't and I saved the Stone from Quirrel- well and Voldemort, they were sort of the same person." Harry tried to calm his mother down. Nothing was worse than a mad Lily.

"What do you mean the same person?" James asked, clearly not as mad as Lily was.

Harry told them the while story, not leaving out any details. While James just nodded and Kat's eyes just got bigger and bigger, Lily just kept muttering, "I can't believe he did that."

"Well," Said Dumbledore," I hate to interrupt such a wonderful story but I do believe there is a feast waiting to be eaten. Lily, James, Kat, you are welcome to join us."

"Thank you Professor, but we really must be headed home," Said Lily, who was still trying to control her anger at the fact that her son was almost killed. And with that said, she quickly ushered James and Kat out of the Hospital Wing.

All the Gryffindors cheered at finally winning the House Cup after six years of Slytherin winning. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and especially Neville were grinning broadly as they made their way towards the carriages that would take them to the Hogwarts Express and back home.

At King's Cross Ron told Harry that he should come over to the Burrow sometime this summer. Harry said he would ask his dad, seeing as he was too scared to ask his mom at the moment.

"Okay Harry, see you." Ron called as he waved from the massive crowd of redheads that made up the Weasleys.

"See you!" Harry called back, and he made his way over where his family was waiting.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

"And he catches the Snitch!" Ron shouted as Harry wrapped his fingers around the small winged ball. They were playing Quidditch in the paddock behind the Burrow and Harry was on a team with Ron and Hermione. They were playing against Ginny, Fred, and George. Harry was extraordinary at Quidditch and Ron was also pretty good but Hermione was atrocious while Fred, George, and Ginny were all pretty good, so the teams were pretty even.

"Nice job son!" James yelled from where he was watching them play.

"Mr. Potter, why don't you and Sirius come play with us?" Fred shouted from his spot in the air. Everyone else shouted their agreement. James and Sirius looked at each other, smirked and raced each other to their brooms. James joined Fred, George, and Ginny's team while Sirius joined the other trio.

The game lasted for over three hours when finally both James and Harry went into a spectacular dive after the Snitch. Lily smiled from her place on the sidelines. Harry looked like a mini version of James on his broom. Quickly, Lily conjured a camera and snapped a shot of the two.

Harry and James were still in the dive, glancing at each other every few seconds. Finally, Harry stretched out his hand as far it would go; he practically jumped off his broom, caught the Snitch, and found himself dangling off his broom with one hand on it.

"Wow! That's way cooler than anything James ever did!" Sirius exclaimed. James glared at his fellow Marauder but had to agree. He had never jumped off his broomstick.

"All right everyone. Dinner!" Molly Weasley shouted out from the kitchen window. Everyone hurriedly landed and ran into to sit at the table that was set outside for the large number of people staying at the Burrow. James and Sirius were acting like kids, begging for fifth servings of everything and telling Ron and Harry about all the pranks the Marauders played while at school. Both boys laughed uproariously at the stories while Lily rolled her eyes, remembering the part they were leaving out: most of these pranks were played on their Potions Professor.

That night, as Harry and Ron were getting ready for bed, Harry said, "Some of those pranks the Marauders played seemed pretty cool. Wouldn't it be cool to make a new ago of Marauders?"

"That would be cool. And Fred and George would be happy to help too." Ron replied. They both smirked as they ran off to the twins' room.

"I think we'll be of assistance." Said Fred

"But on one condition," George added.

"And what would that be?" Harry asked, trying to hide his fear that they would ask something impossible.

"We want to be part of the New Marauders." Fred said with a smirk. Harry and Ron sighed with relief. That wasn't as bad as they thought.

"Sure. But we need to get started as soon as possible." Said Ron. So, with their heads together, they planned a welcome back prank.

When September 1st came, they all crowded into Mr. Weasley's Ford Anglia and set off. James, Lily, and Kat said their goodbyes to Harry that morning, saying that they would see him at Christmas and flooed back to Godric's Hollow. Once they got to King's Cross Percy, Fred, George, Ginny, Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley went before Ron and Harry started towards the barrier. As soon as they approached the barrier, however, it sealed itself and they crashed. "Let's go wait by the car." Harry suggested.

"The car…"

"I cannot believe him!" Shouted Lily. She and James had just received a letter from Hogwarts about Harry and Ron flying a car into the Whomping Willow.

"Oooh Harry's in trouble." Kat said in a sing song voice with a sly grin on her face. She could just imagine the look on his face when he received a Howler. Although she did feel a little pity for him, it was also kind of funny.

"Calm down Lils. He wasn't hurt and trust me, neither was the Whomping Willow." James said in a soothing voice.

"Fine, but he's getting a Howler." Lily muttered. James winced, but figured Harry deserved it a little. Lily was scribbling madly on a piece of parchment. When she was finished, she pointed her wand at the envelope and it turned bright red. She gave the Howler to Hedwig, who was delivering the letter from Dumbledore, who promptly flew off in the direction of Hogwarts.

Harry sat at breakfast thinking about the New Marauders next prank. They had decided not to play a welcome back prank, since Harry and Ron were already in so much trouble. A flutter of wings announced the arrival of the mail. Hedwig dropped down in front of Harry, dropped the red envelope on his plate, stole some toast and flew off.

All the color in Harry's face drained. Ron had gotten a Howler yesterday. That was horrible enough, and it didn't even come from his own mom. Harry slowly opened the letter…

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU FLEW THAT CAR! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU BUT ON THE LINE? YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN HURT! RON COULD'VE GOTTEN HURT! TRUST ME YOUNG MAN, IF YOU PULL ANOTHER STUNT LIKE THIS, I WILL NOT BE THIS LENIENT!"

The letter burst into flame as everyone in the Great Hall continued to stare. If this was lenient, he _really_ didn't want to do something like that again. In a sort of daze, Harry made his way up to the Gryffindor Common Room where Ron was still working on an essay for Snape. He too one look at Harry and said, "Howler?" Harry nodded. That was horrible.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

Harry trudged up the stairs to Dumbledore's office, half supporting Ginny and holding the diary and a bloody sword. He knocked and heard the usual "Come in." Harry opened the door to see not only Dumbledore but also his parents.

As soon as James saw his son, he jumped up and came over. Lily gently took Ginny and laid her down one of the chairs. Harry laid the diary and sword on Dumbledore's desk and went over to give his parents a hug. "We were so worried about you." Lily managed to choke out. Harry smiled but then turned to Dumbledore.

"Ron and Lockhart are at the bottom of the stairs. Lockhart kind of, uh, lost his memory when a spell backfired." Dumbledore nodded.

"I'll see to them. But as of right now I think you and Ms. Weasley here should get to the Hospital Wing."

"Yes, sir"

Harry spent the next few days at Ginny's bedside. Although Madame Pomfrey insisted he get rest he wanted to make sure she was alright. "Harry, you really should go to the feast" Lily whispered in his ear. He was still beside Ginny, who was still sleeping. Harry shook his head, he didn't want to. What if Ginny woke up while he was gone? No he couldn't risk it.

"Come on son," James said, grabbing Harry by the shoulders and leading him out of the hospital.

"Harry?" A small voice whispered from across the hospital wing. Harry spun around a saw a girl with long red hair and big brown eyes looking back at him.

"Ginny! You're awake!" Harry ran over to her. "Are you okay? Do you want me to get you anything? Water? Pumpkin juice? How about-"

"Harry," Ginny cut him off, "I'm fine. Let's go to the feast." She smiled and grabbed his hand, purposefully avoiding Madame Pomfrey so that she could go.

Once they were down at the feast, Ginny seemed alright. She was excited to see Hermione awake and Hagrid back at Hogwarts and enjoyed the great food supplied by the house elves. She seemed pretty normal for the most part, besides being a little tired looking.

As they started down towards the carriages, Ginny pulled Harry aside. "Thank you Harry," She whispered as she gave him a bear hug, "For everything. I was so scared until I saw you down in the Chamber. You saved me." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and they both hurried toward the last carriage.

The entire ride home, Harry couldn't stop thinking about Ginny, even when his eyebrows were almost singed off in a game of Exploding Snap. She kissed him…did that mean she felt something for him? She did during the summer…but did she feel different now? Before he knew it, Harry had lost a solid twenty-three chess matches to Ron and they were arriving at King's Cross. Harry said good bye to Ron and smiled and waved bye to Ginny before heading over to his parents and Kat.

"You like her don't you?" Kat's sudden outburst caused Harry to jump.

"Huh? No…I mean...yes…I mean no…I mean I don't know!"

"So you do like her!"

"Quiet! Someone might hear you!" Kat rolled her eyes at her brother's comment but shut up all the same. This was going to be an interesting summer…


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

"Harry, come on! Wake up!" Kat screamed into Harry's ear, "We're going to Diagon Alley today to get my school things!" Harry groaned and pulled the covers over his head. He had forgotten that it was Kat's first year at Hogwarts.

Kat stopped trying to pull the covers off of her older brother and instead but a sly grin on her face. Good thing she knew Harry's ticklish spots…

"Kat…s-s-stop! I'll get up! I'll get up!" Harry said between laughing. Kat sat back and Harry grabbed her around her waist and playfully threw her out of the room. He got dressed, and hurried downstairs. Kat no longer had a grin on her face, and James and Lily didn't look so happy either.

"What's up?" Harry asked, looking from one somber face to the next. Then he noticed the newspaper in front of his father. It had a picture of a man with a mousy face and sunken, watery eyes, and with almost no hair left. He was laughing madly and being restrained by chains.

"Wormtail," James said darkly, "The bastard who sold us out to Voldemort."

"He escaped from Azkaban? Isn't that impossible?" Kat asked, clearly scared.

"He's an Animagus. That's how he got out." Harry said thoughtfully. He remembered his dad telling the story of how he and his friends became animals every full moon for Remus.

"James, you have to tell Dumbledore." Lily said, sounding very concerned.

"Lils, you know I can't do that. I'd have to tell him the whole story, and that would mean telling him how we betrayed his trust, especially Remus." James replied.

"Well," said Kat, trying to brighten up the mood, "Who's up for Diagon Alley?"

It turned out that the trip to Diagon Alley wasn't the best thing to get their minds off of Pettigrew. Wanted signs with his picture on it looked down on them from every storefront, staring with sunken eyes. Harry got the chills just looking at them. He hoped he would never have to meet him in person.

As Harry was walking out of Flourish and Blott's he spotted Ron and Hermione having an argument while Hermione was holding something fluffy and orange that resembled a pig with hair. "That _beast _just attacked me, Hermione."

"It's not a beast Ronald, it's a cat and he was only trying to play."

"Play? It jumped on my head!"

"Ron! Hermione! Over here!" Harry shouted, trying to intervene before his two best friends got in a fight again.

"Harry," Hermione replied cheerfully, "How's your summer been?"

"Pretty good," he said, and then dropped his voice don into a whisper, "Until this morning."

There was a flicker of understanding mixed with horror across Ron's face as he whispered, "You don't think Pettigrew's out to get you guys do you?"

"I don't know," Harry replied truthfully, "I mean, my dad wasn't too happy to see his face again. He _did_ betray his friendship to all of the Marauders."

"But everyone's looking for him, aren't they?" Hermione asked, worried etched onto her face.

"Yeah, but no one's every escaped from Azkaban have they?"

All of a sudden, a wind swept through the alley, and it seemed like all the light had been sucked out. Harry clutched his cloak around him more, but it seemed like the cold was coming from inside him. "Dementors," he heard James mutter before reaching into his pocket and taking out a bit of chocolate that he gave to Kat. Then Harry saw them. Huge, cloaked figures with scabbed, rotting hands gliding down the street. Everyone seemed to be shivering as the horrible creatures soared past. One stopped at Harry and seemed to be looking at him. Then, suddenly he heard voices…

"No! Not Harry! Kill me instead!" screamed a woman's voice. Then, a high pitched, cold laugh.

"You would die for your son? Such _love_ you must have." Said a voice not unlike the laughter he had heard before.

Harry opened his eyes and found himself lying on his back and staring straight up at his mother's face. "Are you alright dear?" She asked, handing him some chocolate that immediately warmed him up.

"I heard you, Mom. On that night. You were screaming, and then there was laughing and this cold voice…" Harry gave a shudder as remembered the horrible voice. He did not however, miss the looks of worry pass between his parents' faces.

"Well," said James firmly, "There won't be any problems with dementors at Hogwarts…I hope."

"That reminds me," Harry started, "Who's our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year?"

A sly grin came across James' face, which reminded Lily of the look he had when he was planning a prank. "I guess you'll have to find out," He said casually.

While Hermione went into Flourish and Blott's to buy all her new schoolbooks (which were quite a lot considering she signed up for every subject), Harry and Ron discussed their next prank for the Slytherins.

"I say we prank Snape too," Ron said eagerly, "Fred and George always have been able to convince the house elves of anything."

"Brilliant. Let's do it." Harry said.

"Do what?" asked James, who had just came up behind the two boys, causing them to jump.

"Um…well…"Harry stuttered, "We were going to, um, ask you about the pranks you did at school. Yeah, that's right!"

James seemed to lighten up at the fact of reminiscing of his days at school. "Well, there was a really funny prank we did involving Snivellus, a bottle of shampoo and a suit of armor…" and he continued to tell the story while Harry and Ron laughed uproariously, causing many people on the crowded street to stare.

After James had left to go help Kat pick out a wand, Harry and Ron where still chuckling. "Well, I think we have a good idea for our next prank," Ron said with a smirk.

Harry, Ron, Fred, and George were all sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Ron and Harry were telling the twins about their idea, and the twins agreed, but suggested a few more things to make it better. After planning was over, they each went their separate way, the twins went to find Lee Jordan and Ron and Harry looking for Hermione.

They found Hermione saving a seat for them, although the compartment wasn't entirely empty. There was a man asleep in the corner, facing away from the three students.

"Sorry," Hermione said, "Everywhere else was full."

"It's okay." Harry replied.

"Who is that anyway?"

"I don't know…wait a second, it's Lupin!" Harry was excited to see his practically uncle. He shook him awake, making quite a racket as he did so.

"Harry, so nice to see you again." Lupin said when he finally woke up, "and you too, Ron and Hermione." They both smiled back at him.

Harry was about to ask him what he was doing here when that cold chill swept through the train, extinguishing all the lights. He heard something moving outside the compartment but he didn't dare open it. He knew what was out there. Then he saw it. The long billowing cloaks, the scabbed rotting hands and they were coming closer and closer to the compartment door.

Harry saw the compartment door open and Lupin cast a spell that shot a silvery light from the tip of his wand and then a voice…

"Lily, take Harry and run! Go!"

"I don't have time for you Potter, finish him off!" The cold high pitched voice said.

And then Harry found himself on the floor again. "I heard my dad that time" He said suddenly, sitting straight up. Remus offered him chocolate which he gladly took to take away the feeling of utter coldness.

"Don't worry about it," Remus said, "I'm going to go have word with the driver."

Harry was in the Hospital Wing, devastated at the state of him precious Nimbus Two Thousand. Then, an idea hit him. He got up quietly as to not alert Madam Pomfrey of his departure, and ran to the Gryffindor Common Room. He looked around and quickly spotted his sister. "Kat!" He yelled.

"Shouldn't you be in the Hospital Wing? You had a pretty big fall off your broom," She said, eyeing him as if to see if he had any obvious broken bones.

"That doesn't matter," he replied, totally not worried about his current medical condition. "Can you write to Mom and Dad and ask them to send my old Comet three sixty?"

"Why can't you do it?"

"It's your broom."

"Fine, but you owe me one."

"Of course, now go write that letter."

Dear Mom and Dad,

Harry broke his broomstick by falling off of it on a windy day and it blew into the Whomping Willow. He's apparently fine but he wants his old Comet back, which is technically mine so does this mean I get a new broomstick? Because if it does I know exactly which one I want. But we can talk about that later. I have homework that I have to do.

Lots of love,

Kat

Dear Kat,

No you're not getting a new broom anytime soon. Maybe for Christmas you can pick out a broom. We'll get Harry one. Don't tell him though; we want it to be a surprise. Thanks so much sweetie.

Lots of love,

Mom and Dad

After Kat read the letter from her parents, she went back over to where her best friend Robby was waiting for her to finish homework. "Where's Chloe?" he asked, not even looking up from his Charms essay. He was speaking of their other best friend.

"She's at the library looking for a book on Transfiguration." Kat replied. Just as she said this, Chloe walked through the portrait hole. She smiled brightly, showing perfectly white teeth. Chloe had beautiful red hair that curled naturally and rested a few inches below her shoulders. She had hazel eyes, speckled with blue.

"Hi Kat, Robby." She said as she sat down, dropping a book that looked as if it weighed as much as her in front of her. "Just for a bit of extra reading, you know." She said casually to her two friend's surprised looks. Chloe reminded Kat a lot of her brother's friend Hermione.

Just as Kat was about to tell Chloe how ridiculous the book was, she heard excited shouts from the boys' dormitory. Then, Harry came running down with a new broom in his hand, shouting, "I got a Firebolt! A Firebolt! Wow!" Ron was right behind him, admiring the broom. Robby looked up quickly, and his eyes grew as wide as galleons.

'_Boys and Quidditch'_ thought Kat. As she watched, half the people in the common room crowding around it, all admiring it especially Oliver Wood. Kat just rolled her eyes.

"He's been sighted! Pettigrew's been sighted!" Dean Thomas' voice rang out through the Great Hall. He laid the newspaper down on the table. "He was spotted in Albania, of all places!" Both of the Potter children gasped. Their father had told them Albania was where Voldemort was last sighted. Before anyone could utter a sound, Harry jumped up and ran towards the direction of the Owlery, Kat right on his heels.

A/N Sorry for the delay, I had writer's block, so part of this chapter might have been not so good. Again, Sorry. Please review!


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